Data released by the Office for National Statistics and requested by the group Clean Air in London reveal that Newham had the second highest number of cases of the capital’s most fatal diseases in 2012.

The borough was rated the second worst affected for ischaemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, with 124.0 men per 100,000 population affected.

Newham was also the second worst affected for cerebrovascular diseases, which concern the brain’s blood vessels, and for chronic lower respiratory diseases, such as emphysema and bronchitus, among men.

A spokesman for Newham Council said: “We face unique challenges in terms of deprivation, a highly transient population, unemployment and poor private housing, which are major contributors to poor health.

“All the health agencies are doing everything to tackle these issues head on.”

He added: “We also believe Newham is being unfairly penalised by the government. We have seen one of the biggest funding cuts of any local authority in the country.

“It’s unfair that some of the richest local authorities have the highest health allocations and we have called on the government to reverse this.”

He said the council has taken steps to tackle health issues, such as free healthy school meals, a stop smoking service that has helped thousands to quit, a bowel screening programme, and the NHS Health Check, to prevent illnesses like heart disease, a stroke, diabetes or kidney problems.